News

Kermit was wrong: It's getting easier to be green

Smith fastens a blower door cover to a home before conducting an air leakage test, which involves blowing air into a home to see how much air leaks out.

Going "green" is getting easier.

That's what local building professionals concluded at a workshop this spring in Mountain View hosted by Build It Green, a nonprofit that brings together certified green building professionals to train in and discuss topics related to green building.

Among those professionals was Cindy Carey, chief operating officer of San Jose-based Starburst Construction and a certified green building professional (CGBP). Recently, she was in Palo Alto overseeing green-building diagnostic tests, conducting a three-part building assessment to determine the amount of energy the client could save with an environmentally conscious remodel.

And no, she doesn't mean just buying solar panels. These tests were focused on air-duct sealing and gas leakages.

"Solar panels and all that, that's great," Carey said. "But if your house isn't sealed â€¦ I always tell people, it's like putting a sexy nightgown on a pig."

"People think about green building, 'Oh, I gotta put in the bamboo floors and do my Hail Marys to the sun,'" said Rick Williams, consultant for Mason-McDuffie Mortgage Corporation in San Jose, who attended the workshop. "No, that's not it at all. People have to re-learn that idea a bit."

There are many options when it comes to green building, ranging from energy-efficient remodeling to new-construction homes.

At Starburst Construction, "the green building we have done has been on landscaping (water conservation and edible gardens), remodels (air leakage, sustainable materials, foundation-radon-safety issues) as well as assisting in the design and build of a complete green home," Carey explained. "We guide our clients to whatever 'shade of green' they feel comfortable with."

The range of choices has proven to be effective. Nationally, green home building comprised 17 percent of the 2011 residential construction market, according to a McGraw-Hill Construction study published in February. The market share is expected to grow to 29 to 38 percent by 2016, with value increasing five-fold from $17 billion to $87-114 billion.

Williams, a fellow certified green building professional, focuses on the finance aspect of green building. He works with homeowners to finance eco-conscious construction or remodeling.

In his experience, many homeowners are concerned over the high up-front costs of environmentally friendly home construction.

At the recent Build It Green meeting, keynote speaker Tenaya Asan, program manager of Build It Green's Green Point Rating program, spoke about how to gain fair market value for green homes.

Many buyers are interested in such houses, especially the hope of lower utility bills, but few are willing to follow through and pay the higher upfront costs, Asan said.

Until recently, green upgrades were not factored into appraisal ratings, and thus did not contribute to the value of a building. But today, green buildings are receiving higher appraisals than before, Williams said.

A major statewide push rose up from the development of programs like Green Point Rated (GPR), which Palo Alto architect Tali Hardonag described as "a report card for home construction."

Created by Build It Green, a Green Point Rating serves as "a certificate that validates that the project has been evaluated by an independent rater and has met the minimum number of green points that have been achieved, based on the Green Point Checklist," Hardonag said.

Asan cited a statistic from the National Association of Home Builders, which states that 70 percent of homeowners would pay $5,000 more for a green home. Thus, higher Green Point Ratings add to the value of a house and increase the likelihood of its purchase -- or at least that is the hope.

"The market for green homes in this area is limited to the few that understand and think it is important," Carey said. "However, everyone wants to do the right thing and save money and energy."

Increased visibility and presence of green building has become more important than ever. A huge statewide push in this direction came from Energy Upgrade California, a $300 million program that provided rebates to homeowners who make energy-efficient home upgrades. The goal was to educate residents on the need for and availability of "green" home improvement.

Santa Clara County funding ran out, but the awareness and visibility of eco-homes continues to grow. Certified green building professionals, who used to be few and far between, are also now much easier to find, Hardonag said.

Additionally, a collaborative realty organization known as "Green the Multiple Listing Service" (Green the MLS) has sought to increase the accessibility of for-sale green homes to buyers. The MLS is a resource used by Realtors to disseminate information about homes in a given area. "Greening" the local MLS would involve making local real estate databases searchable by the homes' available green features.

As these features grow in usability and popularity, the challenge is to continually get the public and their Realtors on board with the value of green building, Williams said.

Homebuilders are optimistic about this growth. According to McGraw-Hill, one-third of builders and 22 percent of remodelers expect to be completely dedicated to green building as of 2016, doubling and tripling today's statistics, respectively.

Today, "when we're thinking of green building, it's a new building paradigm," Williams said. "(We want to) use sustainable products that are durable and that provide for greater energy efficiency. We're not just all in our Birkenstocks and hanging out in the mountains."

Comments

Like this comment

Posted by hank
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Jul 2, 2012 at 11:44 pm

I had this company come out and do an energy audit on my house, I was really impressed with all of the testing they did. They said that the testing was necessary to know how my house works as a system and it was required if I want to apply for a rebate from PGE or euc.

Don't miss out on the discussion!Sign up to be notified of new comments on this topic.

Email:

Post a comment

Posting an item on Town Square is simple and requires no registration. Just complete this form and hit "submit" and your topic will appear online.
Please be respectful and truthful in your postings so Town Square will continue to be a thoughtful gathering place for sharing community information
and opinion. All postings are subject to our TERMS OF USE, and may be deleted if deemed inappropriate by our staff.

We prefer that you use your real name, but you may use any "member" name you wish.